Abstract
Since at least the late 12th century, medical herbs grown naturally or cultivated in Korea have been referred to as 'HyangYak'(鄕藥, $Xi\bar{a}ngY\grave{a}o$). Herbs from other countries are referred to as 'DangYak'(唐藥, $D\bar{a}ngY\grave{a}o$). Some senior historians claim medicines made solely from HyangYak are purely Korean, since they originated and were developed fully within Korea. However, these localized medicines became abundant as the result of exchanges between Korea and other countries. Originally published in 1433, 'HyangYakJipSungBang' is the authoritative result of earlier writings of medical books using HyangYak. Comprised of a total of 85 volumes, it was large in scale and divided into three main sections: 1) a detailed description of the 703 kinds of HyangYak, 2) explanations of the 10,706 different herbal formulae and 959 types of symptoms or diseases, and 3) descriptions of the 1,416 various acupuncture and moxibustion formulae. It's noted that 'HyangYakJipSungBang' was not written all at once. In the process of its writing, the number of formulae increased through medical exchanges between Korea and China during the 15th century.